Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 11.3% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Meta Platforms' stock price dropped 11.3% after COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares, causing a significant increase in trading volume.
• Despite the stock's decline, several analysts have upgraded their price targets, with Meta's average price target now at $823.23.
• Meta Platforms reported strong quarterly earnings, with $7.25 earnings per share and revenue exceeding expectations at $51.24 billion.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) shares were down 11.3% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $650.17 and last traded at $666.47. Approximately 87,571,139 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 494% from the average daily volume of 14,731,960 shares. The stock had previously closed at $751.67.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total transaction of $387,527.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,965,078.06. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on META shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $830.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $823.23.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 11.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $741.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $696.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.Meta Platforms's revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.

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